Across the animal kingdom, males have overwhelmingly evolved to be more visually striking than their female counterparts, from a peacock fanning out its spectacular tail to a male bird-of-paradise to a mandrill with its vivid red and blue face. However, recent research seems to suggest that humans are the odd ones out with a major new study exploring the ‘Gender Attractiveness Gap’.

The research analysed data from more than 28,500 participants and included over 1.5 million facial attractiveness ratings from countries and cultures worldwide. The findings provide evidence for the Gender Attractiveness Gap, which is the concept that female faces are rated more attractive than male faces regardless of the sexuality, culture, race or age group of the person doing the rating. This gap declines with age and largely disappears by the 80s, when male and female faces become more structurally similar.

One possible explanation for this difference is sex differences in facial structure. On average, women have round faces and men have rectangular faces and in this study, both men and women found rounder faces more attractive.

Furthermore, researchers suggest that female faces tend to retain neotenous (baby-like) traits into adulthood such as larger eyes, smaller noses and rounded facial contours which attract visual attention and create a perception of youth. The researchers state that whilst cause and effect cannot be established, this could be due to sexual selection. Sexual selection is a particular type of natural selection where traits which convey an evolutionary advantage are passed down through generations because they increase reproductive success. Neotenous facial features in women may signal youth and fertility, making them more likely to be preferred by male mates over hundreds of thousands of years

Finally, it could be that cultural influences also play a role. Female beauty is heavily idealised across many societies and is constantly reinforced through media and advertising. Across film, social media and art throughout history female faces have been disproportionately held up as objects of beauty. It is therefore possible that both male and female raters have internalised these standards, meaning that attractiveness ratings may reflect learned cultural associations rather than purely biological responses to facial features.

References:

Women’s faces rated more attractive even by other women, study find https://www.theguardian.com/so... (accessed 11.6.26)

Eugen Wassiliwizky, Brendan P. Zietsch, Karel Kleisner, Fredrik Ullén; The gender attractiveness gap. Proc Biol Sci 1 May 2026; 293 (2071): 20260362. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2... (accessed 11.6.26)

Now answer these questions:

1. Use your knowledge of evolution to explain why, in the animal kingdom, male animals tend to be more visually attractive than female animals.
2. The study used a meta-analysis of data from 52 studies across 76 countries. Outline one strength and one limitation of using meta-analysis as a research method in this context.
3. The researchers made all of their methodology, data and analysis publicly available. Explain why this practice is considered good scientific conduct, refer to a feature of science in your answer.
4. How does this study demonstrate a key concept from the nature-nurture debate, namely, ‘the relative contribution of heredity and environment in behaviour’.
5. In this study, attractiveness was measured by asking participants to rate faces on a numerical scale. Explain what is meant by operationalisation and discuss whether this is a valid way of operationalising attractiveness.

Challenge: The researchers found that female faces were rated as more attractive than male faces, and they also observed that neotenous facial features were associated with higher attractiveness ratings. Explain why we cannot conclude from this that neotenous features cause faces to be rated as more attractive.